1. Hans Aumeier was an SS commander during the Nazi era who was the commandant of Vaivara concentration camp and the deputy commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.
21 Facts About Hans Aumeier
1. 2.
One of the most important criminals at Auschwitz, Aumeier was extradited to Poland, where he was convicted and sentenced to death.
3.
Hans Aumeier was born on 20 August 1906 in the small town of Amberg, Germany, where he attended elementary school for four years and then secondary school for just three years.
4.
In 1923, Hans Aumeier left the small factory in Amberg and began work for a bigger company in Munich.
5.
Hans Aumeier was an early member of the Nazi Party, joining in December 1929, and in 1931 he joined the SA and was employed as a driver at the SA headquarters in Berlin.
6.
In December 1931, Hans Aumeier was transferred to the SS, where he worked in the garage as a driver and was on the staff of head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler.
7.
On 1 February 1942, Hans Aumeier was transferred to Auschwitz concentration camp and was appointed head of Department III, and named Schutzhaftlagerfuhrer at Auschwitz I, where he remained until 16 August 1943.
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Hans Aumeier was attached to the SS-Construction Brigade of 5th SS Panzer Corps; this unit was responsible for building fortifications in the area Oranienbaum-Leningrad and was under the command of Organisation Todt.
9.
In October 1944, shortly before the surrender of Riga, Hans Aumeier was ordered to report to SS-Gruppenfuhrer Richard Glucks at Oranienburg.
10.
Hans Aumeier took this opportunity to ask Glucks if he could return to his old unit at Dachau concentration camp so he could visit his family.
11.
Hans Aumeier's request was granted, but he was taken ill with an old eye injury and was sent to the hospital; he remained there until January 1945.
12.
When Hans Aumeier was finally discharged, he reported back to Oranienburg and was asked whether he wanted to go to occupied Norway to become commandant of a new concentration camp at Mysen.
13.
Hans Aumeier asked for leave to see his family, but this time it was refused and he was told to report to SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Max Pauly immediately who would brief him.
14.
Hans Aumeier worked closely with the Norwegian Red Cross and even let them into the camp.
15.
On 7 May 1945, Hans Aumeier opened the camp and let the prisoners go free; by the next day the camp was empty.
16.
On 11 June 1945 Hans Aumeier was arrested at Terningmoen camp as a result of information gleaned from Gestapo files obtained by the MI6.
17.
Hans Aumeier was still in full SS uniform and admitted almost immediately his name and rank.
18.
Hans Aumeier was handed over to United States intelligence officers at Akershus Prison for interrogation in August 1945.
19.
The trial lasted from 25 November to 16 December 1947, and Hans Aumeier stated that if he was found guilty and sentenced to death, he would "die as a 'Sundenbock' for Germany".
20.
Hans Aumeier told the court that he had never killed anyone at Auschwitz and neither had any of his men and denied knowledge of the gas chambers.
21.
On 22 December Hans Aumeier was sentenced to death, and he was hanged on 24 January 1948 in Montelupich Prison, Krakow.